What are the key projects you have been involved in over the past twelve months?

Current privacy laws changes in Mexico and Brazil have had direct impact in our privacy policies and processes. As a company that protects and treasures data, I have taken the time and effort, as privacy steward for Latam, to adjust current processes as controller and processor to comply with such changes. As a global driven company, we always try to focus on maintaining global range processes and policies, but we are complying with local requirements, we have successfully navigated the LGPD (Brazil) and updated Mexican privacy reforms to secure local processes. We reduced time-to-market by 20% through a pre-cleared compliance blueprint.

I have been recently designated as global legal point of contact for the community of services, which involves assessing many issues and challenges and providing efficient advice. It’s key to remain open to different opinions and considerations that are not always aligned with the processes and policies, while still always protecting the company’s interests.

Can you describe an instance where your legal advice directly influenced business strategy or commercial objectives?

Deals are undeniably the commercial lifeblood and stability of any global corporation. However, a key element of our strategy this year has been proving that regulatory compliance is not a cost center, but a value driver that directly preserves our market position and corporate reputation. Corporate compliance today must go beyond ticking abstract checkboxes; it must generate tangible commercial value through strategic legal engineering. This involves actively generating results that add value, and this is achieved through prevention rather than merely resolving corporate conflicts. Maintaining clear traceability of compliance indicators such as the number of active conflicts or the lack them is essential. It ensures robust preventive control and signals a strong commitment to compliance with external counterparties

How has the role of general counsel evolved, and what are the most important attributes for the modern in-house lawyer?

The modern in-house lawyer at a tech company is no longer just a legal technician. They are a multi-disciplinary workers who blend law, technology and business strategy to help the organisation scale fast, innovate responsibly and protect its most vital assets. The role was predominantly reactive. The business would innovate or decide, and the legal team would review it through a narrow lens of legal compliance, focusing primarily on contracts, litigation defense and basic corporate governance.

The in-house lawyer is an architect of defensible decision-making and cross-functional governance. The modern tech in-house lawyer doesn’t just evaluate the legal consequences of business decisions; they actively co-steer the company through digital transformation, geopolitical volatility, and algorithmic disruption.

Modern in-house lawyers do not wait for a contract to cross their desks. They are expected to spot commercial opportunities and institutional bottleneck issues early, proposing proactive solutions before they escalate into legal crises. In-house must be comfortable leveraging contract lifecycle management (CLM) platforms, legal data analytics and generative AI tools to automate routine tasks, thereby freeing up time for high-value strategic work. While being a supportive business partner is vital, a modern in-house must maintain balance and absolute ethical integrity to say “No” when a boundary is crossed. Striking the balance between enabling innovation and protecting corporate reputation is the hallmark of mature judgment.

What major challenges or risks should in-house legal teams be preparing for over the next twelve months?

As we look at the horizon for the next twelve months in Colombia, the legal landscape for companies is shifting rapidly. We are moving away from abstract regulatory debates and entering a phase of strict operational enforcement, high political sensitivity and major structural overhauls.

A key trend is aggressive data privacy enforcement and new technology transfer rules. The Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC) has significantly heightened its scrutiny regarding how companies handle data, specifically targeting innovation and AI ecosystems. Under recent regulatory directives (such as External Circular 002), the SIC explicitly demands that data protection must advance at the exact same pace as technological innovation. If a company is transferring software, algorithms, data sets or AI models that contain personal data, they have the strict obligation to prove compliance with Law 1581 of 2012. As a consequence, companies can no longer rely on standard boilerplate privacy clauses. The SIC now mandates “Privacy by Design and by Default” for tech transfers. Companies must document rigorous risk assessments, map data flows meticulously and re-negotiate vendor and partner contracts to establish clear, auditable boundaries regarding security, confidentiality and liability.

In-house counsel are also navigating the fragmented AI regulatory wave. While Colombia does not yet have a single, consolidated “AI Law” in force, legislative appetite is at an all-time high with multiple bills moving through Congress. Furthermore, the administrative framework is already active. Government frameworks including the comprehensive CONPES 4144 National AI Policy Roadmap, alongside algorithmic transparency initiatives by regulators like the CRC. Fragmented enforcement across the SIC (for data/algorithms) and MinTIC (for policy) creates compliance ambiguity. Therefore, legal teams need to build internal AI governance frameworks immediately. This includes deploying risk classification models, conducting algorithmic impact assessments, ensuring explicit transparency notices for automated content curation or decision-making and establishing robust human-in-the-loop protocols.

Another trend is labour reforms and managing workforce burnout. The labour environment in Colombia remains under heavy macroeconomic pressure and intense legislative scrutiny. Shifting overtime structures, evolving contractor classifications, and worker flexibility mandates are steadily driving up compliance costs. Legal must partner closely with HR to proactively audit employment contracts and remote-work policies to ensure that corporate restructuring or cost-optimization strategies do not trigger severe labor disputes or ESG violations.

Macroeconomic strains and country-risk perception should also be monitored. Colombia’s intense political and economic transition cycle, marked by fiscal tightening and underperforming revenues, has injected volatility into contract predictability. Higher local financing costs mean technology projects and vendor procurement will face tighter budgets and stricter board scrutiny. Legal must lock arms with Finance to monitor shifting tax reforms and economic decrees that could instantly impact digital services tariffs or software licensing structures.